Towel-holder.



G. H. REIMER.-

TOWEL HOLDER. APPLICATION FILEDYSEPT-Z. 1916.

1,235,600. Y Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

GEORGE E. REIMER, OF FULTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO PATENT NOVELTY COMPANY,

' OF FULTON, ILLINOIS, AOORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

TOWEL-HOLDER.

Patented Aug, 7,1917;

Application filed. September 2, 1916. Serial No. 118,287.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. REIMER, a

' citizen of the United States of America, and

' forced against said portion, whereby upward movement of the ball from clamping posi tion will release the towel.

Generally stated, the object of my invention is to provide an improved construction and arrangement whereby the entire towel holder, with the exception of said ball, may

be constructed from sheet-metal, and where by the said incline is formed in the bracketplate of the structure, so that the towel is held between the ball and a depending arm which is spaced a distance from the bracketplate and rigidly secured thereto at its upper end, as will hereinafter more fully appear. 1

To this and other useful ends, my invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and. claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a sheet-metal. towel holder embodying the principles of my inchamber 1 atthe back or rear side thereof.

vention. 1 Fig. 2 is a vertical Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3-3 section on line'22 in in Fig. 1'. V

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a portion of the bracketplate, showing the groove in which the ball is movable up and down.

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the said towel holder, showing the upper portion thereof broken away for convenience of illustration. As thus illustrated, my invention comprises a bracket-plate A provided with-a rim a, whereby said bracket plate has a The upper and lower ends of said bracketplate may be adapted in any suitable manner to be attached to a vertical wall-surface. The lower portion of said'bracket-plate is formed with a head or ridge 2 which stands out from the front surface of the bracketplate, and a vertically disposed groove 3 is surrounded by this head, said. groove being of maximum depth at its upper end and of minimum depth at its lower'end, wherebysaid groove tapers'downward and becomes gradually shallower toward 1ts lower end.

e I I Tue-upper.end-portion of said grooveis ofabout the same depth'as the chamber l',

whereby the bulge 4 formed by this groove on the back of the bracket-plate will about touch the wall when the plate is secured in Dlace. Inthis way, therrim a not only stiffens the bracket-plate to-give it the requisite rigidity, but servesalso to provide the chamber 1 into which the bulge 4 may eX tend in order to give the groove 3 the necessary or desired depth. The bead 2is pro- 7 vided with an upper horizontal slot 5, and

also with vertical slots 6 at each side of the groove 3, in the'manner shown more clearly in Figs. 4 and 5. This bead 2, and also the gr0ove'8, stiffen the bracket-plate Aaso that it 'is quite rigid, but'the resiliency .of the sheet-metal is, of course,retained to some extent. l

The ballB is of a size to travel'up and down in the groove 3, and is retained in po sition by the arm 0 which is made of sheetmetal and provided with lugs 0 which'are inserted through the slots 5 and 6 and bent over upon the rear surface of the bracket'-' plate, as shown in Fig; 5. The armC is, it

will be seen, formedlon its front surface with V a marginal bead 7 so tliatthe'front surface ofvsaid arm is provided-with achannel 8,

- said bead and channel disappearing .at the upper end, of the head portion of said arm.

This head portion is formed by vertical sidewalls 9 which extend downward as far asv the lower ends of the slots 6, and which com-- bine with the, curved upper-portion 10 of the front wall to-provide the hollow head by which "the arm O is rigidly secured to the bracketplate. The depth of the channel or groove8 issuch, itv will be seen, that the.

innersurface of the arm C, between the side portions of the bead 7, is not in line with q the inner edges 11 of thearm, this inner surface 12 of the arm being slightly in rear of the vertical plane of said edges, whereby the towel can be easily inserted between said 'arm and the ball B, asiindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. 2

After the towel is inserted, as indicated,

it can then be released by, raising the ball from theposition shown inFig- 2, so that v the ball will recede from the arm C, thus permitting the towel to be withdrawn. The

ball then gravitates to its lowest position, and to again insert the towel it is simply necessary to lift it upward between the ball and the arm C, and to then let go, the weight of the ball causing it to instantly move downward and press the towel against the arm. This, it will be seen, is because of the fact that the groove 3 tapers downwardly, and becomes more shallow toward its lower end, thus causing the ball to gradually move outward against the arm C as it gravitates downward in the groove. The bulge 11 on the inner side of the arm C, formed by the groove 8 in the sheet-metal, provides a rounded surface against which the towel is clamped by the ball, and whereby the insertion and removal of the towel is facilitated.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the holder comprises front and rear stifl? jaws of sheet-metal, the rear jaw being formed by a stiffened section of the sheetmetal of the bracket-plate A, and the line of distortion of the metal leaving a flat area immediately outside thereof. Thus, the ball B travels in the groove of one jaw and directly engages the sheet-metal of the other jaw, so

' that the towel is positively clamped between the ball and the sheet-metal.

The bracket plate which provides the rear jaw, it will be seen, has the sheet-metal thereof so distorted that it prevents buckling of the bracket plate when the ball is forced downward between the two aws. The front jaw, of course, when the ball is forced downward, becomes a lever, so to speak, with its fulcrum at the upper end thereof, and this powerful le'ver action would cause a buckling of the bracket plate if the latter were left perfectly fiat. With the distortion of the sheet-metal, however, to form a stiffened section which provides the rear jaw, the bracket plate is prevented from buckling at the head of the front jaw when the ball is forced downward.

Thus, the bracket-plate A, which is substantially wider and longer than the front jaw C, has the rear jaw outlined thereon by the head 2 or other suitable swaging of the metal, so that a considerable area is left outside of the rear jaw, and whereby, as stated, the bracket-plate is prevented from buckling under the powerful leverage exerted by the front V hat I claim as my invention is:

1. A towel holder comprising front and rear stiff jaws of s'heet-metal, said rear jaw consisting of a sheet-metal bracket-plate provided'with a head which stands out from the front surface thereof, and with a vertically disposed groove surrounded by said bead, which groove tapers downward and becomes shallower toward its lower end, a

ball movable up and down in said groove, and said front jaw consisting of a sheetmetal arm having its upper end rigidly secured to the upper portions of said bead, the depending portion of 'said arm cooperating with said ball to clamp the towel, and said bracket-plate having its rear side provided with a chamber containing the rearward bulge which is formed in the sheet-metal by said groove, which bracket-plate is thereby adapted to be secured flatwise against a vertical wall-surface 2; The said towel holder (substantially as set forth in claim 1), said arm having a bead extending downward at each side and across the lower end thereof, so that said arm is provided on its outer surface with a groove extending vertically thereof and forming a bulge on the inner surface of the arm to engage the towel.

3. The said towel holder (substantially as set forth in claim 1), said arm having its upper end provided with side walls which are secured to the bracket plate, and said arm having a groove extending up and down thereof to stiffen the arm.

4:. A towel holder comprising front and rear stiff jaws of sheet-metal, means to rigidly connect together the upper portions of said jaws, so that the two jaws in their entirety are substantially unyieldingly opposed to each other, one jaw having a longitudinal groove which converges downward toward the other jaw, and a ball movable downward by gravity in the groove and thereby adapted to be forced by this jaw directly against the other aw, said rear jaw consisting of a stiffened section of a sheetmetal bracket plate, which plate is substantially wider and longer than said front jaw, said section being formed by swaging of the sheet-metal adjacent said means and downward therefrom, thereby forming said groove, leaving an area outside of the line of swaging, whereby the rear jaw and its said groove are outlined on the face of the bracket-plate by said line of swaging, and said means comprising a hollow head integral with said front jaw and formed with top and side walls having the edges thereof secured at the upper and lower ends of the head to the rear jaw inside of said outline thereof, to prevent buckling of the bracketpla'te by the lever action of the front jaw when the ball is forced downward, and so that the towel may be clamped directly between said ball and a sheet-metal aw by the pressure of sheet-metal on'the other side of the ball.

Signed by me at Fulton, Illinois, this Qath day of August, 1916.

GEORGE H, REIMER,

Copies of this patent may be obtained fol five cents each, by addressing the Gommis'sioner of Patents. Washington, 1 

